Let's Get Medieval
This period from about 500 to 1500 saw cities decline, learning decrease, and much knowledge of Greek language and culture nearly disappear in Western Europe.
The Middle Ages
This set of Church laws governed all medieval Christians and regulated matters such as marriage and religious practices.
Canon law
This “rebirth” of art, writing, and learning began in northern Italy and lasted from about 1300 to 1600.
The Renaissance
In 1517, this German monk posted his 95 Theses criticizing the sale of indulgences, helping launch the Protestant Reformation.
Martin Luther
These three major Muslim empires ruled during the Renaissance era.
Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid
Funded by Ferdinand and Isabella, this explorer reached the Americas in 1492 while mistakenly believing he had arrived in the East Indies.
Christopher Columbus
This political system that emerged in Western Europe between 850 and 950 was based on land ownership, where lords granted fiefs to vassals in exchange for services.
Feudalism
These two disasters in the 1300s devastated Europe—one caused by failed harvests from severe weather, and the other a deadly disease spread through trade routes that killed about one-third of the population.
The Great Famine and the Black Death
This playwright, often considered the greatest in history, wrote famous plays that were performed at London’s Globe Theatre.
Shakespeare
This movement for religious reform challenged the authority of the pope and led to the creation of Protestant churches.
The Protestant Reformation
This empire conquered most of northern India and later opened major ports such as Bombay and Madras to expand trade with the outside world.
Mughal Empire
These Spanish explorers and soldiers were sent to the Americas to explore, search for gold, and conquer empires like the Aztec and Inca.
Conquistadors
In 800, this Frankish ruler was crowned “Roman Emperor” by Pope Leo III after defending the pope and expanding his empire across much of Western Europe.
Charlemagne
This term refers to a “holy war” fought by Christians to gain control of the Holy Land, the region of Palestine where Jesus lived.
The Crusades
This Renaissance figure was a painter, sculptor, inventor, and scientist best known for creating the Mona Lisa.
Leonardo Da Vinci
This reformer taught predestination in his 1536 work Institutes of the Christian Religion, leading to the development of Calvinism.
John Calvin
This empire of Mongol origin ruled much of India, where Muslim rulers governed a largely Hindu and Buddhist population, leading to ongoing religious conflict.
The Mughal Empire
This trans-Atlantic trading system moved goods from Europe to Africa to the Americas, involving enslaved people and raw materials in a three-part exchange.
Triangular Trade
In 1054, this major event occurred when the pope and the patriarch excommunicated each other, officially splitting the Christian Church into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches.
The Great Schism
This 1215 document limited the power of the English king and guaranteed certain basic political rights to his subjects.
Magna Carta
This intellectual movement of the Renaissance focused on human achievements and the study of classical texts, history, literature, and philosophy.
Humanism
This is a pardon issued by the Church that releases a person from the penalty for sin.
Indulgence
This Muslim empire conquered Persia, was ruled by shahs, followed Shiite Islam, and used Persian (Farsi) as its language.
The Safavid Empire
Under Ferdinand and Isabella, this European kingdom began global exploration to spread Catholicism and gain wealth.
Spain
This four-part legal system included The Code, The Digest, The Institutes, and The Novellae, organizing and preserving Roman law for the Byzantine Empire.
The Justinian Code
These two religious reformers challenged the authority of the Catholic Church, arguing that the Bible—not the pope—should be the highest religious authority.
John Wycliffe and Jan Hus
Around 1440, this German inventor developed the printing press, making books quicker and cheaper to produce.
Johann Gutenberg
This 1542 Church court was established to enforce religious uniformity and combat Protestantism by targeting heretics and converts.
The Roman Inquisition
This Muslim empire, once a major power in Europe and the Middle East, collapsed after being defeated alongside Germany at the end of World War I in 1918.
The Ottoman Empire
This Portuguese explorer found a sea route around Africa to India, though the journey was long and dangerous.
Vasco da Gama
In 719, this major domo, or “mayor of the palace,” became more powerful than the king in the Frankish kingdom.
Charles "The Hammer" Martel
This crisis beginning in 1378 involved rival popes in Rome and Avignon each claiming authority, creating a major split in the Church.
The Great Schism
This term, meaning “no place” in Greek, has come to describe an ideal society or perfect place.
Utopia
These followers of John Calvin in France were persecuted and killed in events such as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.
Huguenots
This empire helped develop the Hindi language to unify communication and make governing India’s many language groups easier.
The Mughal Empire
This brutal middle leg of the Triangular Trade carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas and the West Indies.
Middle Passage
Through trade with Byzantium, these people living north of the Black Sea blended their traditions with Greek influences to help form early Russian culture.
The Slavs
This medieval scholar blended ideas from ancient Greek philosophy with Christian theology, helping shape Western thought.
Thomas Aquinas
This artistic technique, widely used during the Italian Renaissance, created the illusion of three dimensions on a flat canvas.
Perspective
This Catholic Church council (1545–1563) clarified doctrine during the Counter-Reformation, affirming tradition, faith and works for salvation, and the validity of indulgences.
The Council of Trent
In 1453, this empire conquered Constantinople, renamed it Istanbul, and converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
The Ottoman Empire
This idea describes a world where the discovery of the New World led to increased worldwide trade and greater interconnection between regions.
Globalism
In the feudal system, these peasants were legally tied to the land they were born on and were required to give most of what they produced to their lord.
Serfs
In 1187, this Muslim leader and Kurdish warrior recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders.
Saladin
These Renaissance thinkers promoted social reform while combining classical learning with Judeo-Christian values.
Humanists
This religious order founded by Ignatius of Loyola emphasized prayer, study, and education, and played a major role in Catholic reform and missionary work.
The Jesuits
This Persian Shiite empire, known for its artistic achievements like rugs, tiles, and paintings, also experienced a cultural “renaissance” during its rule.
The Safavid Empire
This line, drawn by the pope to divide the non-European world between Spain and Portugal, was established to avoid war.
Line of Demarcation
This medieval code of conduct guided knights to protect the weak, serve their lord and God, and act honorably toward a chosen lady.
Chivalry
This English king, known as “the Lion-Hearted,” led forces during the Third Crusade and later made peace with Saladin in 1192.
Richard the Lion-hearted
This questioning attitude of the Renaissance encouraged people to doubt accepted beliefs and helped lead to the development of the scientific method.
Skepticism
This movement, also called the Counter-Reformation, aimed to reform the Catholic Church from within in response to Protestantism.
The Catholic Reformation
This Mughal ruler built the Taj Mahal in Agra as a grand mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
Shah Jahan
This Spanish colonial system forced Native Americans to work while Spanish settlers and missionaries controlled their labor in exchange for supposed protection and conversion to Christianity.
Encomienda System